A Florida man shot and killed his wife and wounded his stepdaughter, before turning the gun on himself after an argument over watching Monday Night Football three days before Christmas, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
“As you know, anytime you report on a murder it’s a sad situation,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference on Tuesday. “It is hugely sad when it’s around Christmas. And what I’m about to describe to you is even 10 times that worse.”
According to the sheriff’s office, 47-year-old Jason Kenney had been watching the San Francisco 49ers play the Indianapolis Colts in his shed in the Highland City area of Lakeland when he wanted to watch the end of the game on TV in his living room.
His wife, Crystal Kenney, didn’t want to watch the game, and that’s when an argument began, the sheriff’s office said.
“Crystal told her 12-year-old son to go call 911,” Grady said. “So, the 12-year-old flees to the neighbor’s house in order to dial 911, and as he’s leaving the house, he hears a gunshot.”
Grady said deputies arrived at the scene in less than five minutes.
“When we entered the house, we see that Crystal Kenney, the wife of Jason, is shot in the head and dead,” Grady said. “But it gets worse.”
Grady said that when they entered a bedroom, they found a 13-year-old girl suffering from a gunshot wound to her shoulder and to her face.
She was taken to a hospital where she was listed in critical but stable condition, Grady said.
“Jason shot her twice and intended to kill her,” Grady said. “He didn’t, however, shoot his biological child — thank God — who was 1-year-old and in a crib. He shot his stepdaughter. He didn’t get a chance to shoot his stepson, who had run to dial 911.”
Grady said that Jason Kenney fled the scene before the deputies arrived. He said he called his sister in New York state and said he had done something “very, very bad” and wasn’t going to go to jail for the crime.
He then told her that she would “see it on the news.”
The sheriff’s office said that Jason Kenney then drove to his deceased father’s house in Lake Wales and entered a shed on the property.
Deputies arrived at the scene and pleaded for him to come out of the shed, and that’s when Grady said they heard a gunshot.
“When we made entrance to the shed, we find that Jason had shot himself in the forehead, and he, too, was deceased,” Grady said.
Teenage victim allegedly pleaded, “Don’t shoot me! Don’t shoot me!”
According to Grady, a note written by Crystal Kenney was found, telling Jason that he was “drinking” and was “using cocaine again” and that he “needed God.”
“We don’t know when she wrote the note,” he said. “But it was open. So, did she write it as they argued earlier in the evening? Or had it been some period of time? We can’t determine that.”
Grady said that investigators were also able to speak with the 13-year-old girl who was shot by her stepfather.
“Our Christmas miracle,” Grady said.
He said that she told deputies that she begged him, “Don’t shoot me! Don’t shoot me! Don’t shoot me!” but he shot her anyway.
Polk County sheriff says only thing suspect did right was “shoot himself”
Grady said that investigators had spoken to family members who said Jason Kenney had been abusing his wife, but there were no calls made to their home, and he had never been arrested for domestic violence.
“The bottom line is, three days before Christmas, he shot and killed his wife, he shot his 13-year-old stepdaughter twice and intended to kill her,” Grady said. “He called his sister and confessed that he did something terrible. And then, rather than be arrested, he shot and killed himself. Quite frankly, I don’t want to sound sinister, but the only thing he did right that night was shoot himself after those horrible deeds.”
